Thai Coconut Ice Cream

This is a catch-up post from my ice cream activities in Maine.  We tried a Thai coconut flavor of gelato at Maple's in Yarmouth, and it was really good, so I decided to try making something similar.  It's easy to make ice cream using canned full-fat coconut milk, but that stuff will kill you.  I wanted to see if I could make one that was at least a little lighter by using the type of coconut milk that So Delicious makes, which is similar to soy milk.  It's still full of saturated fat, but it's only 70 calories per cup so at least it's less dense.

To make this into ice cream, I used a combination of guar gum and xanthan gum.  It took a couple of tries to get the amounts right.  My first batch came out pretty icy, although my tasters liked it anyway.

Thai Coconut Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups So Delicious coconut milk or equivalent
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup corn syrup
• about an inch of fresh ginger sliced into coins (no need to peel it)
• juice of one lime
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp guar gum

Instructions

1. Mix coconut milk, sugar, salt, and corn syrup in saucepan.  Add ginger.  Bring to a boil and boil for four minutes.
2. Strain into blender to remove ginger.  Add lime juice, peanut butter, cayenne pepper, and gums.  Blend to combine thoroughly.  (Be careful about blending hot liquids!)
3. Pour into a container and transfer to the refrigerator to sit until cold, a few hours or overnight.
4. Freeze in an ice cream maker.